Raw-Chocolate-Chips

Raw Chocolate Chips

You too can make your own chocolate chips! Yes you! For a simple taste of making your own chocolate, the cost of a piping bag and a tiny tip…you my friend can spend countless minutes creating your own nuggets of chocolate bliss! But wait there is more!! Not only can you make them…you can EAT them!! Oh but wait, there is even more…for free I will throw in antioxidant flavonoids, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese! Yes, you too can enjoy these wonderful health benefits for free! Respond today and all this can be yours!

Ingredients:

½ cup melted cacao butter (use a double boiler to melt)

¼ cup raw cacao powder

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp mesquite powder

1 tsp agave nectar

Preparation:

Ensure all utensils and the bowl are dry before the ingredients are added as water can cause the mix to separate.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use your dehydrator tray that is lined with the non-stick teflex sheet. You will be piping your chocolate chips onto this.

In a double boiler gently melt the cacao butter until it is completely in liquid form. Be very careful that you don’t overheat the pan. As soon as the cacao started to melt I turned the burner off.

Once the cacao is melted completely, whisk the powders and agave into the cacao butter until thoroughly combined.

Take the pan off of the double boiler and set on a towel so it can start to cool. This is not a time to get distracted. Allow the chocolate to cool so it starts to thicken a bit. While this is happening I prepare my piping bag. I used a disposable piping bag, snipping the pointed end so I can insert a tip. The size of the tip will determine the size of your chips. I then took a tall glass and set the bag inside of it, folding the bag open over the rim of the glass.

Once the chocolate has started to firm pour it into the bag which is being supported by the glass. Scrap the pan clean. Pull the bag out of the glass and plug the piping tip with your finger as you twist the bag closed.

To make the chocolate tips hold the tip straight down onto the non-stick sheet, squeeze a little bit out, pressing down and then pulling up, taking the pressure off of the bag. Make sure you have allotted enough uninterrupted time to make all the chips at once so your chocolate doesn’t get too thick in the piping bag.

Once you are all finished, place your tray in the freezer.

Once frozen, scrap them off into a container that has an air-tight lid and store in the freezer or fridge until you are ready to use them!

Options: Add chocolate chips to your cookies such as in Chocolate Chip Cookies, Almond Hooters, Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream, and many other recipes! They make a great late night snack while everyone else is sleeping. Quietly tiptoe to the freezer, crack the door open slightly so you don’t allow to much of the light to spill out, grab the container of chocolate chips and nibble away. Unlike M & Ms these will melt in your hand so make sure to lick your fingers clean to hide all the evidence. :)

Well, they won’t be as rich in deep chocolate flavor and not to sure that they stay as firm as the cacao butter….worth a try though. IF they didn’t work out just right, you can always throw them in a granola mixture, a cookie dough, in a chia pudding…all sorts of things, so they won’t go to waste!

So, what’s your opinion about Agave? I have been staying away from recipes that call for it, due to some things I have read. Do you have a specific brand of Agave that you use and do you have brands that you stay away from? Thanks!

Ah yes agave… this is an ingredient that comes up in question by many. I don’t have any strong opinions to stand on regarding to be honest. I have done tons of research and reading and you can find resources that say it’s good for you and bad for you. It gets confusing. So, I go to my standard way of approaching these matters. I ask myself, “How do I feel about using this product? Does it agree with my body? Do I feel any ill effects?” I then source out the best product that I can find. What are they processing standards? Are they organic? Raw? Fair-trade? Sustainable? etc. They don’t have to be all of these but I look at their core. Then finally, my final approach is… use it in moderation. I may have many recipes that use agave but that doesn’t mean that I eat them or agave everyday. Moderation is the key. There are so many other products that you can use to sub out agave so if you have issues with it, change it out. Each sweetener will lend different flavors so keep that in mind. I do have a post written up about that if interested.

I do however have a favorite brand of agave that I have been using for some time now. It’s called Xagave. I order it through Amazon. http://astore.amazon.com/nouraw-20/detail/B002W09PX4. I haven’t found it in stores yet though I heard Sams Wholesale Club was carrying it but I am sure that differs from store to store.

I hope this helps. If you have more questions… you know how to find me. :) amie sue

Hi Amie, i am having a hard time finding the mesquite powder. I just saw mesquite flour by Shillow Farms but I’m not sure that’s the one or not. It doesnt say its raw… Should inkeep searching or this one would do? Thanks as usual! Have a great day :-)

I looked up the mesquite flour by Shillow Farms. It is organic and gluten-free but not raw. They heat the pods at about 130F for 4 hours to remove the water so the high sugar content pods can be ground to a fine flour. If you can’t find the raw version locally and don’t want to order the raw kind, then this is the next bet. If you are aiming to be 100% raw then you will have to decide for yourself as to what your priorities are. I tend to order mine through Amazon http://astore.amazon.com/nouraw-20/detail/B001NHCGSS

Dear Amie-Sue,
Thank you so much for your response and your research, you are amazing! I finally found raw mesquite powder locally so I’m very happy! Although now I see that I need a pipping bag :D
I’ll keep you posted when I finally make them.
And I have been checking this site all the time, but just for the same recipes… I would say is still my main raw encyclopaedia, and your attention is really unique.
I’ll write back soon!

The thing is 99% of the times I take a recipe, there’s this sweet little evil force that keeps me from sticking to it! Of course, always hoping that it is going to turn out as I like. But unfortunately, I most of the times regret not having been a good girl and done what it was written!
So in this case, I thought that if I added more agave and a pinch of vanilla, chances were the chocolate chips would make my taste buds happier. And they did get really happy, but once the chocolate chips cookies were in the dehydrator, a good part of the chips melted away and leaked down to the dehydrator floor (thanks god there was nothing underneath ;-)
Still, there’s still chocolate chips in the cookies and they taste good! But next time I won’t risk again…

lol You sound a bit like me Pilar. I am sorry that you ended up with a mess! You sure made me giggle though. The trials and errors of the kitchen…aah the stories. Better luck next time..blessings, amie sue

So excited to stumble upon your site! I have been looking for proportions to make a chocolate that will set up using a liquid sweetener (our family is doing GAPS) and cocoa butter. I have done chocolate work for several years but it has always been with purchased couverture so the liquid sweetener has had me frustrated. It looks like this will work perfectly. I was curious about your photo with the piping bag. I noticed you are not using a coupler. Is there a particular reason why? Is it easier or easier for clean up? Thanks!

Hello Gay… I am so happy to have you here! I hope that you find some inspiration through out the site that fits into the GAPS diet for you and your family. :) As far as to why I didn’t have a coupler on my bag… no reason, I was traveling a lot at that time and probably didn’t have one atm. I was making due with what I had. I hope that you have a wonderful weekend. Blessings, amie sue

Is there an automatic chocolate chip maker that you know of? I made raw chocolate chips once, and although they were great and fun to eat, it killed my arms, hands and back (just kvetching). I swore I’d never make them again, but I really would love to if I could find something to help automate the process….hello, Nestle’s! Hmmmmm…maybe hire some kids? Any suggestions?

Oh my Maureen… I wish that there was. If there is one out there, I am not aware of it… not on a personal kitchen level anyway. :) I’d say to gather up some girlfriends and make a party of it. Have some light snacks, cold drinks or warm (if cold outside), turn on some music and have everyone armed with a dehydrator tray (lined with teflex) and a piping bag of chocolate. If I lived near you, I would come help! :) Have a great week my friend, amie sue